Blue feather
by SytherSensei
Summary: When Hikari found a blue feather she didn't take it too seriously, so she gave it to the person she thought could do with some more happiness in life.
1. Chapter 1

Insignificant Love.

**I don't own harvest moon.. **

**Also, English is my second language and not my best language so spelling and grammar can be doggie.**

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><p>Ignis always thought of her as a loyal companion. He can not address her as a friend, nor his lover. Despite how much he wanted to, Gods can not, or in this case <strong>SHOULD NOT<strong> treat a mortal as one of their own. As the Harvest King, his duty is to protect the people on this land, which includes Hikari, grant their wishes, look after them from one generation to another, until the end of time.

Thus made him wonder if she was to be...wedded by someone other than him, will he still be capable of fulfill his duty as the Harvest King, protect Hikari and even her husband and children with fair. He was always amazed at the power she had over him: how her smile can make him feeling warm and peaceful even on the cold ice mountain top during stormy weather...Actually, even remembering her smile can already give the same effect.

No doubt, he was in love with her. Love is something even the Harvest King himself can not describe, its a mixture of wine and poison, it can be sacred or forbidden, or both at the same time. He knew how destructive love can be from the beginning, far earlier than first sight. He sometimes watched the people from his throne, watched Hikari working hard for the sake of other villagers. Every now and then she might mess up something, but never did her cheerful smile vanish for more than a day.

He restored the Harvest Goddess' tree due to her request. which made him wonder, would he summon storm and hale to wreck the island if she had requested?

He shook his head to this thought, looking at the sky, he quietly waits for her arrival. Although he gave her a portal for her convenience, but she insisted on walking the forty five story mine on daily basis. Thus she always arrived near sunset, which only allowed them to chat for a few minutes and she would have to return to her farm again.

Everyday when she arrives, she would bring him some shinning fruits as souvenirs, and she would always wave to him before she climbs up the icy stairs-  
>"Hey~Look what I've got!"<p>

As her cheerful voice had broken his deep thoughts, he smiled, and said nothing, but walked towards her, realizing what she had on her hand was not a shinning apple nor fruit cocktail. It was something he did not expect nor want to see.

She didn't realize the horror on his face and continued. "I was walking up to the mountain top and a blue bird dropped this, so I picked it up. Mira told me it was a-"

"A blue feather, it represents happiness, therefore it is usually used in proposals." He finished her sentence, with no sign of emotion on his face. He can feel his heart aching, but he wasn't even sure if he had a heart to begin with, after all, he was a god.

"Right, therefore..I thought you might wanna have it." She giggled as his expression turned confused and conflicted. "You sure look like you need a lot more happiness than I do~"

"...Are you saying that you want me to keep it?" He asked gently, holding the feather tightly in his hand, almost like he was afraid that the wind might blow his happiness away.

"Yep...oh, and one more thing, today's present is Apple Cocktail, so here you go..." she then looked at her watch again and shocked at the fact that it is way too late for her to be still out. "Well then, gotta go, and don't throw away the feather okay?"

"..You have my word." He looked at her almost hopping back to her farm, and looked at the feather when she disappeared under moonlight.

Of course, he thought to himself, the blue bird only drops its feather for someone in the right time. If the time is not right, no matter how much you seek for the feather, it simply will not be found.

Does that mean it was the right time for her? If she gave the feather to anyone else, then she would become someone else's wife? The thought of that killed him from the inside a little.  
>But now that he had the feather, she can no longer propose to anyone else, unless someone else is going to propose to her, he can still dream about being with her.<br>Such selfish thought should never belong to a king, he knows, but can't help hoping for a chance to...love her, be with her.

He did hear from other gods about the story of the Harvest Goddess from Mineral Town. She was bound to the duty of protecting the people, granting people's wishes. She fall in love with a human, she knows they can not be together, so she tested him, again and again, refusing to take his blue feather. He didn't give up, and then eventually he married her. Even after their marriage, she can not afford to spend too much time at home, so he had to visit her in her spring, everyday until he was too old to move.  
>And in the end, he died, like any other human. Leaving her nothing but memories.<br>This story gave him hope, made him wanting to leave behind everything, and live with her for the rest of her life.  
>And after her years has passed, he would treasure every moment spend with her.<p>

"My King."  
>He turned around to the voice of the Harvest Goddess. Only she, the Harvest Spirits and Hikari can get to the mountain top without climbing the mine, since the teleport stone he arranged for Hikari was made from his affection towards her, other humans will not be able to use it.<br>"What is it?" He looked at the Harvest Goddess, she is elegant and beautiful, but she will never be what Hikari is. She can only prey and wish for the restore of the Harvest Tree when Hikari would restore it with her hard work.

"The story other gods told...the Harvest Goddess that fallen for a human..." She mentioned the story carefully, trying her best not to anger or upset the King. "She loved the human, yet tested him, only visited him a few times in a year, never accepted his invitation for festivals, never even told him her real name..."

"I know, I've heard from other gods."

"He loved her."

His eyes widened, his hand closed tighter on the blue feather.

"Why?" He asked. "Why did she love someone who tortured her so badly, why did she wanted to be with him? He can not spend time with her, can not be with her and help her when she is having hard time!" He was filled with anger, didn't even realise that he was not asking about the story anymore, he was asking about her, about Hikari.

"Simply because Hikari loved you, My King."

He can not gather another sentence. He never knew what she felt about him, surely she cared about him, wondered if he was lonely or cold on the mountain top, wanted to make him happy by giving him things he liked.

The Harvest Goddess pitied the King and herself at the same time. The King loved Hikari as much as Hikari loved him, yet they can not be together. For herself, she wanted someone to love, someone to love her in return, but that can not be managed, as long as she remains to be the Harvest Goddess, she can not live freely.

"The story, in the end, the human died." She sighed, as she saw the king's expression darkened. "She continues to protect the land he once loved, protect his friend, and protect their daughter."

He began to think he had too much surprises today than he could handle. "They had a daughter?"

"Yes, their daughter, their family had then been passed down. Her lover lived and died, leaving her the memories, and a family."  
>She said and looked at the full moon on the sky, it is already dark, she glanced at the king, and returned to her spring.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for the reviews.. My first language is Chinese and usually I write fictions in Chinese, only recently I began to write in English.**  
><strong>The plot was generally decided before I start to write this, its probably just three to four chapters long, unless something better came to mind.<strong>

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><p>Little did she know the result of her actions when she handed him the blue feather. It was awkard, she wanted him to accept the feather even if it's not for proposal. The blue feather brings happinies, she wants him to be happy, and whether his happiness involved her or not was a different story. If she had a choice, she wanted him to take the feather as a proposal gift, but for now, a plain gift to a friend is enough.<p>

Lying on her bed, Hikari felt extremely tired mentally. She didn't want to burden him with her affection towards him, but the emotion grow too big inside her that if she didn't express it in someway, she's afriad that she might explode.

"Finn, are you awake?" she wispered, hoping that he is. Finn is the only one she can talk to about her emotion other than animals.

"Yes, what is it? You really should get some rest." Finn said in a sleepy voice, it was obvious that he wanted to sleep more than listening to her problems.

"I love him, always did and always will. Good night, Finn." as she said good night, she rolled around and pulled up the blanket to cover her head. Finn was then wide awake and starts to interigate her, she decides to ignore it...for now.

The next morning when she woke up, the weather was extremely gloomy, the wind roared and rain was pouring from the sky, at least she wouldn't need to worry about her crops since it is nearly end of summer and she already cleared out the land to get ready for fall.

After attaining to her animals, she had little to do but watching TV and trying out new recipies. Recently Marimba Farm had sent her a letter telling her there are some new product for sell. As she looked at their catalogue, she was supprised that they sells perfect grapes all year around. It was the ingredient to make one of Ignis' favourite cocktail, Grape Cocktail.

Although it is much easier to just by it from Brass bar, but she always enjoyed making any gifts that went towards him, even knowing that the aging process for cocktail will ignore the quality of the ingredient, she still uses the best ingredients she can get her hands on.

She sat on the table waiting for the cocktail to finish aging, she wondered what is he doing at the moment.

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><p>He was conflicted with different feelings, it is obvious from the storm. The weather always reflected his emotions. He wanted her to be here, wanted to see her smile and listen to her voice, but he doesn't want her to risk herself in going to the mine in this weather.<p>

He knows the mine can be dangerous to a human, but to tell the truth, he did not know what kind of danger it was. Although he often wondered about it, but had never seen the inside structrue of the mine. He looked down from his throne at the path to the mine, curiousity drove him get up from his throne and walked towards it.

As he was walking down the icy stairs, he suddenly realized something which he never had thought of before. How dangerous is it for a tiny human like her to be walking on slippery, snow covered stairs? Her weight must have been too light to remain stable when walking on those stairs on windy days. The thought of her possibly falling from those stairs made him nervous.

And as he went inside the mine, he was supprised at how much different it is than what he had imagened. He thought it would be brighter, and he never thought there was so much trap and pitfalls in each floor. After investigate three floors, he immidiately decides that it is definitly not safe for her to come to visit him by journey through a mine in this weather condition..or in any condition.

He didn't hesitate another moment and teleported towards her farm.

When he arrived at the farm, he walked to her house. Earlier she had told him about how she requested from the Carpenter's to change her house's decoration. Although he isn't a big fan of pink, but the warm colour reminded him of Hikari. The thought of her made him smile, and the sight of her empty house raised his eyebrows.

As he opened the door to her house, he was greeted by one of her pet dogs. The dog turned and chased its tail, then barked happily. "You know me?"

The dog barked again, he understood what it was trying to say. The dog's owner, Hikari has obviously told her pet about Ignis. "Where did your master went?"

The dog whined in a pitiful voice, he noded as he was told that Hikari was making her way to the mountain top to see him, and left a while ago. After obtaining this information, he patted the dog and left her house.

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><p>After leaving her house, she thought that maybe it's not a good idea to pay him a surprise visit in this weather after all. She looked up in the sky, and decide to use the teleport stone to safe her some energy. To her surprise, The Harvest King who never leaves his throne was not there.<p>

Thinking he shouldn't take long to come back, Hikari wanted to give him a surprise and hided behind his throne. But after one hour of waiting, she was getting tired from the rain and hiding, had fallen deeply to sleep.

And he sure was surprise when he saw her sleeping behind his throne with a grape cocktail in her hand..except not a good kind of surprised.

"Hikari, wake up." He softly brushed off the rain on her cheeks, it looked like tears, he doesn't like the sight of tears on her cheeks. Her face is pale and she barely had any temperature left, except her forehead was almost burning. She opened her eyes, but before she could respond, he lifted her up and held her in his arms without giving her the chance to refuse."You are fevering, I'm taking you home."

Shocked at how light she is, he closed his arms tighter around her, treating her like she like an extremely fragile and valueable art work. He teleported back to her house, and sat her down on a chair. He doesn't know how to treat someone that is unwell, himself had never been unwell before. He paniced a bit, and nearly asked for Hikari's pet dog for help, but Hikari got up from the chair before he made a fool of himself.

"Hikari?" He wasn't sure if she is capable of walking, as she looked like she was sleep walking and is not aware of her condition. Her cheeks is rosy as ever, and her eyes are watery. She walked towards her dresser and took out a piece of clothing which seemed reasonable enough for sleeping in.

Right, he thought, changing out of the wet cloth would be a good idea, at least she still knows how to take care of herself.

But the thought didn't last long. She didn't move to the empty room, but start from her T-shirt until she's down to her under garmets, taking off and changed into dry clothes right in front of him.

How he wanted to be a gentlemen and at least turn around to pay her some respect, but the thought was simply crushed by the sight of her smooth skin and nice figures. He never knew his face can burn this much and now he is sure that he does have a heart, because it must have been beating really fast to make him hard to breathe.

Hikari didn't realise that she striped herself and changed in front of someone she had feelings towards, and walked towards the bed, mumbled good night and fall into deep sleep.


End file.
